


The Story of Ori

by pokeabsol



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I am bad with tags, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25836433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pokeabsol/pseuds/pokeabsol
Summary: The story of a young tiefling trying to survive in a world that hates her.





	The Story of Ori

**Author's Note:**

> Ori is a character i came up with as a DnD character and while i was writing her backstory i kept getting new ideas for her and this was what happened. Unfortunately i never got the chance to play as her soooo yeah.... Hope you all enjoy!

It all started with a hand. A tiny hand that belongs to the thinning frail body of a young girl. She was desperate for food and the apple on the fruit stand seemed to be calling for her. However, she didn’t reach for the shiniest apple nor the biggest apple, not even the roundest one. No, she went after the one with lumps a little too soft looking and a little too old looking. One that she knew would never sell and wouldn’t be missed. She wasn’t going to be like those other kids who always grabbed the prettiest looking fruit, she didn’t want to be a burden instead she thought of it as relieving the fruit sellers load of something that wouldn’t have sold otherwise. The young girl watched as some of the other starving kids around her age attempt to sneak up to cart and each time they stole some fruit the seller pretended he didn’t see them, and after they scurried off and disappeared into the crowd, she saw him smile a little. The small child thought that he was a good person, someone who only wanted to feed starving children like her.

When she was finally brave enough to go for the apple, she followed the steps of the other kids completely. First, she blended into the crowd, then she got close to the cart and slowly reach up for the apple. However, right as her hand touched the fruit another hand reached out and grasped her by the wrist, gripping it so hard she cried out and tried to pull away. His grip on her was iron-tight and in the struggle, she accidentally knocked over a few more fruit, causing them to fall on the ground covering them in dirt.

“Damn you,” a voice snarled.

The young girl looked up and saw that the voice belonged to the fruit seller. The smile she saw him wear only a few moments ago erased from his face and replaces with a scowl. He had gone all red and was practically fuming. The child didn’t know what to do she kept pulling on her wrist trying to break free of the gripped that threaten to break her wrist. All she could do was pull and mumble “Sorry, sorry, sorry” over and over again.

A crowd was starting to form all the commotion making her more nervous, she searched the crowd for someone who showed any sympathy or compassion and found none. Instead, she found nothing but anger and disgust on their faces all directed at her. Soon they began yelling too.

“Damn you, Damn you, you thief,” the fruit seller shouted.

She looked up at him and saw nothing but hatred in eyes. Tears started welling up in her own, thief? No, no, no. How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? She did nothing different than those other kids. So then why? Why was she the thief?

“You ruined my goods, I can’t sell them now that you cursed them,” he yelled as he began to drag her through the crowd. She watched as people started to move out of the way to make room for them to get through. The girl began to panic. Where was he taking her, what was he going to do to her, what curse? There was too much happening all at once, it was too loud, too many eyes, too much pain and all of it caused the little girl to burst into tears. Forgetting what very little Blissan she knew, which was the most common spoken language used she reverted back to her native tongue of Kayti and cried out repeating **“I’m sorry”**. Her voice was barely heard over the roaring of the crowd. But as he dragged her to the edge of the small village the crowd grew smaller and smaller until it was only the two of them entering a wooded area.

She tried again and as she struggled against the iron grasped that the man still held on her wrist she cried out **“Please stop, you’re hurting me, please let me go”.** Then she felt a sharp pain on the side of her face and the world went spinning. She slowly raised her right hand towards her cheek and over to her nose, and when she drew back her finger it was wet and coated in red.

“Do not try to curse me again, you demon,” the man growled before pulling her again. She didn’t understand what he had just said but the point was clear do not to talk. For the remainder of the journey they headed deeper into the wooded area and the girl did not talk, she did her best to keep her sniffles low. After a few more minutes of walking they entered a clearing that held a small simple-looking cottage that looked like it could 1 or 2 rooms and a small shed only a foot or two taller than her a couple of yards from the house. She could only assume that this was the man’s home. The pair walked past the house and towards the shed. Before the girl could realize what was happening the man had tossed everything out of the shed and shoved her inside and locked the door.

“Since my current supply of fruit has been tainted, you’re going to stay in there until the next shipment comes in,” the stand owner said before walking away.

However, the young girl did not understand, the only part she could make out was ‘fruit’, ‘you’re’, ‘stay’, and ‘next’. All she knew was that the shed was too small, there was barely enough space for her to sit properly. Each time she moved her head the small horns that were starting to stick out more and more on the side of her head would scratch against the sides of the walls. Her tail which was also about half the size of her took up too much space giving her very little room to move in. No matter what position she tried out she couldn’t get comfortable, the shed was obviously used to store equipment such as farming tools not a holding area for thieves.

After a few hours of shifting, turning, and cramping the white-haired child decided that the best thing to do was stand. She stood for hours and hours having nothing to do but count the grains and dents in the wood. When she had enough of counting, she thought about what the fruit seller had told her before locking her in. “Stay”, “next”, “you’re” “fruit”. She pondered on the few words she understood until she finally decided that he telling her that she was going to stay in the shed until… well she didn’t really know when and she still didn’t understand the fruit part. She wondered how long it would take the seller to let her out. She wanted to leave this town as quickly as possible. She could go back into the forest and survive a day or two out there before finding another village until she had outstayed her welcomed once again. She only just made it to this town the night before and already she knew she had to leave. She kicked the ground in anger and disappointment. How could this all go so wrong so quickly? She still couldn’t explain the man’s sudden shift in mood. He had seemed so kind and she hadn’t done anything to hurt him. What had he called her when she tried speaking to him? She brought her hand back up to her cheek. It was sore and tender and each time she touched there was a bit of pain-causing her to wince. It already started swelling and if she didn’t already have one there would definitely be a bruise there by morning. She scraped off the remainder of the dried blood from her nose.

“Demon” she whispered.

She had no idea what the word meant and yet it sounded so familiar.

As the moon rose high in the sky the child grew tired of standing and thinking. She sat on the ground trying the best she could to get comfortable and drifted off to sleep. She woke up the next morning due to stomach pains, which was when she remembered it had been two days since she last had anything to eat. By the end of her second day stuck in the shed the pain in her stomach was too much and her head hurt and it felt like the world was spinning, she took an apple out of her pocket. Before the shopkeeper had started dragging her away from the stand, she had used her tail to grab on of the fallen apples and slip it into her pocket. She studied the apple for a moment before slowly nibbling on it until only the core remained, then after a while, she ate that too, leaving only the stem and seeds. She stuffed the seeds back in her pocket foolishly thinking when she got out of the shed, she could go back into the forest and plant them. Then she could live off the apples and never have the need to go into another village again. She almost wished she could plant the seeds in the shed so it would grow and break it apart but the wooden floor was too hard for her to dig through. On the third day, all she could do was stare at the walls and wait as the hours slowly ticked on. She had no energy to do much else but to rest her body against one of the walls of the shed to hold her up. When her legs were too weak to continue to support her, she slid herself on the ground curling into a small ball and cried until she fell asleep.

Then suddenly there was a sound of something crashing against the shed pulling the child from her sleep. At first, she thought it was some animal that accidentally bumped into it and was about to lay back down when suddenly there was another sound of something crashing into the side of the shed. Then there was another and another until it sounded as though something was crashing into the shed from all sides. It was then that she also heard shouting, it sounded as if there was over a dozen were outside.

“Demon”

“We’ll kill you”

“Monster”

“Die”

Repeated over and over again and all their anger and hatred were once again pointed at her. She didn’t understand the words that they were saying but she didn’t need too. The cruelty in their voice and the way that they spit out their words made it clear that they hated her. She was suddenly very thankful to have been locked in the shed, it was the only thing protecting her from the group of people not very far away. It was the first time since being locked in the shed several days ago that she feared for her life. But she didn’t want to die. Not alone in a shed over a damn apple. Once again tears threaten to pool over and she had to press her hand to her mouth to prevent from crying out. Shakenly slid down the sidewall and pressed her knees to her chest trying to make herself as small as possible, all she wanted was disappear. She sat there in the dark surrounded by the loud chants of those who wanted to kill her only separated by a thin wooden wall. The drunken slurs and yells lasted well into the night. By the time the Tiefling heard the crowd of people disperse the moon hung well above the shack. She didn’t know how close she had come to dying and she didn’t want to find out. If they return there was no guarantee that the mob would just be okay with threatening her from outside the shed. The next time they came the crowd may actually try to kill her. But she refuses to die. Not from hunger. Not from the mob. Not like this. The violet skinned Tiefling quickly wiped her eyes and nose and pulled herself up and stared at the door. It looked weak and flimsy enough for even someone of her size could be able to break. With a new resolve, the girl began banging her fist on the door.

Hours past before she gave up, bits of sunlight shine through the cracks of the walls. Despite how fragile the door appeared even under hours of assault the door was no closer to opening let alone breaking. Her hands and arms raw, red, and bloody, the Tiefling gives up. Overcome with grief and exhaustion she collapses back on the ground. She clutches the necklace that was around her neck. She doesn’t want to think about her failure or the pain in her arms so instead, she closes her eyes and quickly drifts back to sleep. 

She wakes up to the sound of scratching right outside the door, and for a brief second she has hope, she lets herself believe that the fruit seller had a change of heart and was going to let her out before she remembers the mob. Instead, she prepares to fight. Using the wall for the support she pulls herself up, breathing heavily she stands in position and when the door opens, she pounces. Or at least she attempts to, her tackle more becomes more like a staggering trip as she has no more energy left. Still, she manages to pin her foe to the ground and begins to claw at them. It wasn’t until she hears the cries of her opponent does, she realizes that the person she is trying to maul isn’t actually the fruit seller but a young boy who looks a few years older than herself. For a moment she pauses her assault and the two stare at each other. Then she’s flipped on her back and pinned down.

“What the hell was that for!” He yells, shaking her. She wasn’t sure what it was, whether the boys yelling, feeling the sun on her skin, the hunger in her stomach, her overall tiredness, or even the softness of the grass beneath her, but she soon feels one teardrop roll down her face and then another and then another until she gives in to her emotions and starts crying.

“H-hey, I didn’t mean to yell, I just wasn’t expecting you to come out of there like that or hit me like that is all.” He mumbles. He pulls away from her and stands back up and dusts himself off. “Please stop crying, I won’t yell anymore yeah?” he says extending a hand.

She doesn’t understand a word the boy says but she takes his hand and he helps her up, and when her legs give and she stumbles he quick to catch her.

“Whoa, are you okay?” he said giving her a once over, “Oh gross what happened to your arms,” He said as he grabbed her left arm and poking at the scabs. Pain shot up her arm and she jerked away hissing at him.

“Okay, okay,” He said as he held up his arms, “Let’s go back to the house, I’m sure there’s something in there I can use to help that….and maybe get some food I’m starving!”

Still not understanding what he said but perking up at the word food, she watched as he headed towards a small wooden house a few yards away from her prison. She hesitated, what if the fruit seller was there, would he lock her up again? Would he try to kill her? Would he gather a mob again? Or would he let her go? Where did this boy come for anyways, was he the fruit seller’s son? He had to be, how else did he know she was in the shed. As the distance between her and the boy grew, her stomach made the decision for her and she followed him into the house, deciding to deal with the consequences later.

20 minutes and two poorly bandaged arms later the Tiefling sat at table devouring her second sandwich the boy had made at a table while watching him toss a whole bunch of, to her, useless shiny objects into a bag while talking out loud. She was certain that he was talking to her but he spoke too fast with a slight accent and didn’t understand a lot of the words he was saying, but he was interesting to watch and he had fed her, so she did her best to follow along. She managed to catch a few words like “drunk”, “demon”, “group of people”, “inside”, “shed”, “watch”, “leave” and “house” but altogether she didn’t understand what he was trying to say. At some point however the boy notice how he was the only one talking and paused filling his second bag with food.

“You don’t talk much do you?” he asked. She stared blankly at him. “Wait, hold on do you even know what I’m saying?” he asked walking up to her. Again, she only stared back at him. Suddenly understanding the situation, the boy found himself in he started to turn red. This whole time he was trying to talk to someone who didn’t understand him.

“um…uh, hello?” he said slowly with a slight wave.

“Hello,” the girl said quietly.

“Why were you in the shed?” he asked making different hand gestures he hoped would help get his message across.

“Hungry, so take apple, man very mad, put me inside and not let me out” she responded after a few moments thinking how to respond.

“How long were you in the shed,” he asked slowly.

She takes a moment to think before holding up 4 fingers.

“4 days!” he said.

“4 d-da-days” she repeats slowly, she realizes that she has no more sandwiches to eat, but still hungry and not passing up on the chance to have a full stomach she grabs at the fruit in a bowl lying at the center of the table she reaches for the apple hesitates and grabs an orange and begins to peel it. “Your dad mean.”

“That’s way too long to be stuck in a-” he interrupts himself. “Wait did you say, dad?”

She nods, “Dad is mean man!” she says eating an orange slice.

“That’s not my Ba, I don’t have one,” he says and then begins to resume packing things into his bag.

At this, the girl stares at the boy in front of her. It only then that she notices that the boy has a slenderer figure compare to fruit seller who was much wider. The fruit seller was broad, had hazel colored skin and green eyes. The boy also had chestnut color skin and hazel eyes, his hair was slightly curly and ears pointed at the tip. He was about a foot and a half taller than her. She realized that there was no way those two could have been related and that instead, the boy was a...

“Elf” she whispered.

“Hmm, no I’m only half an elf, my mom was a human, I think, at least that’s what others always told me,” he said adding more stuff into the filling bag.

“Then, who are you,” she asked.

“I’m like you, an orphan, I don’t have a Ma... or a Ba now,” he said grimly sitting at the table trying to close the second bag.

“Or-Orhan, Orp-han, Orphan” she attempted to say, the word foreign to her. She paused something still didn’t make sense to her. “Why you are here?”

“I’m stealing this guy’s stuff” he said simply, pointing to the two-stuff bag laying on the ground.

“STEAL” the Tiefling shrieked. “No-No steal he put you shed, you never come out!” She said glancing at the door afraid that the man will come back any second and find them. “We go now, before mean man find us!”

“Relax, yeah? I checked he won’t be back till much later he’s at work now, Although I guess we should get going huh?” He said picking up the two bags and opening the door then he paused. “Oh yeah my name is Joven,” he said sticking out his hand. The girl stared at it unsure what to do, she glanced at the hand then back at the boy.

“Joven” she repeated pointing at him.

Joven withdrew his hand awkwardly “Yep that’s me!” he exclaimed. “Um, did you want to come with me?” he asked. “I mean you’re free to go by yourself I just figured since we’re both by ourselves …” he trailed off scratching the back of his head.

“I can go with you?” she asked quietly.

“If you want, I’m not gonna force you” he nodded.

“Then we go!” she exclaimed with a large smile, not understanding the second half of the sentence. She took the bag that was full of food from Joven and grabbed the fruit bowl dumping everything inside and put the bag on. Together the two walked out of the house. The young Tiefling didn’t know where they were going but she felt as though she would never regret walking down this new path.

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically my 3rd work on here the other 2 didn't get very far but this is the one I like working on the most and most likely to keep coming back to. I have a fairly good idea of where i want this story to go, I already wrote the first few chapters of this and in the middle of the current chapter im working on. Im kinda just posting this on here to get me motivated to write more. Feel free to yell at me to update and let me know what you all think and any helpful tricks or tips :)


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